Horse, Tutu Add Novelty To `Rosebud`

August 14, 1987|By Johanna Steinmetz.

``Donna Rosebud,`` the Chicago-produced art film making its American premiere Thursday at the Music Box Theatre, looks at first glance to be genuflecting to the new-wave films that were France`s cultural contribution to the `60s.

It`s in grainy black and white, has a dreamy, off-the-wall feel about it and is frankly symbolic. But director J.P. Somersaulter has put his own satiric stamp on this style and the result is sort of Jean-Luc Godard, meet Second City.

The title character of the movie is what we in `80s America would call a superwoman: mother of seven, mayor of her city, accomplished athlete, recording artist, scientist, surgeon and author. She`s beautiful to boot, in an unthreatening, fresh sort of way. She does not whip up gourmet meals at the end of a hard workday, however. She doesn`t have to: Her lover, Alonso, who courts her with passion and imagination, does that.

Not surprisingly, Donna Rosebud lives in another world, a Utopian planet that physically resembles ours but where pain and death are unknown, where gender roles are reversed and where each citizen may change his age on a whim. The story details how, when Donna becomes afflicted with nightmares about such earthborne terrors as war, murder, rape, aging and going to the dentist, she is forced to make a drastic sacrifice.

Somersaulter has a lot of fun with all this, and while there are scenes in which his tongue pushes a bit too far into his cheek, the movie always is novel in approach and, despite fey symbolism, accessible. When Donna performs ear surgery on Alonso because his singing has become off-key--``particularly during lovemaking``--she does it with a corkscrew, a mortar and pestle and whipping cream. When she unveils a new maternity center for the city, it boasts a breastlike dome. When she heads for the office, it is on a white horse and she wears a tutu. Less obviously but more intriguingly, the film plays with themes such as the validity of dreams and the nature of creativity. One of Somersaulter`s better--and more daring--decisions was to avoid talking in dialogue . All acting lines thus are voiced over unmoving lips.. Somersaulter takes pains to devise a logical explanation--that in Utopia everyone communicates telepathically, so actual speech is unnecessary. The device stands on its own artistically and it helps a director using unseasoned talent to fine-tune his product. The effect is rather like seeing a silent film that has been aurally colorized. (A nasty idea, perhaps, but someone is bound to try it.) It`s amazingly easy to get used to.

What is not so easy to take is the film`s slack rhythms, its lack of tension. At 83 minutes, it is not especially long, but it feels belabored in spots. Some scenes--Alonso`s ear surgery comes to mind--relax and play at a comfortable tempo, while others seem truncated and jerky. Other scenes--such as Donna`s visit to her parents` back yard pool--are simply unnecessary and make the film seem cluttered. Some of this has to do with the perils of do-it- yourself moviemaking.

Because of time and money constraints, ``Donna Rosebud`` took five years to make, enough time for the filmmaker to have second thoughts, change direction and otherwise subvert what originally may have been a more tidy vision.

`DONNA ROSEBUD`

(STAR)(STAR) 1/2

Produced, directed, written, filmed and edited by J.P. Somersaulter; music by Doug Lofstrom. Plays at 7 and 9 p.m. Friday at the Music Box Theater. Running time: 1:23. Not rated.